• Authors:
    • Dramicanin, T.
    • Lenhardt, L.
    • Zekovic, I.
    • Dramicanin, M.
  • Source: Food Analytical Methods
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, a technique that measures both the absorption and the emission properties of a sample in a single measurement, was used for the analysis and classification of intact cereal flours (wheat, corn, rye, buckwheat, rice, and barley). Total synchronous fluorescence spectra recorded in constant wavelength mode show clear differences in the emission spectra of different flours due to variances in intrinsic fluorophore concentrations and their microenvironments. Principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and partial least squares discriminant analysis are used to assess the ability of synchronous fluorescence measurements to differentiate and classify intact samples of different flour types. The flour specimens were obtained directly from a market in Belgrade and had different expiration dates to provide a more representative set of samples. The results of the current analysis suggest that chemometric methods applied on synchronous fluorescence data can discriminate and classify flour types and that the best results are achieved using a combination of synchronous fluorescence measurements at synchronous intervals of 7 and 20 nm. The quality of results, the high speed of measurements, and the avoidance of extensive sample preparation make synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy a promising technique for cereal research.
  • Authors:
    • Cherif, S.
    • El-Ayni, F.
    • Jrad, A.
    • Trabelsi-Ayadi, M.
  • Source: Water Environment Research
  • Volume: 84
  • Issue: 8
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Groundwater is the main source of water in Mediterranean, water-scarce, semiarid regions of Tunisia, Africa. In this study of the Korba coastal aquifer, 17 water wells were studied to assess their suitability for irrigation and drinking purposes. Assessment parameters include pH, salinity, specific ion toxicity, sodium adsorption ratio, nutrients, trace metals pollutants, and fecal indicators and pathogens. Results indicate that salinity of groundwater varied between 0.36 dS/m and 17.4 dS/m; in addition, its degree of restriction is defined as "none", "slight to moderate", and "severe" for 18, 23, and 59% of the studied wells, respectively. To control salts brought in by irrigation waters, the question arises as to how much water should be used to reach crop and soil requirements. To answer this question, a new approach that calculates the optimum amount of irrigation water considering the electrical conductivity of well water ( ECw), field crops, and the semiarid meteorological local conditions for evapotranspiration and rainfall is developed. This is applied to the authors' case study area; barley and lettuce were selected among the commonly grown crops because they are high- and low-salinity tolerant, respectively. Leaching requirements were found to be independent of the crop selected, and depend only on the season, that is, 250 to 260 mm/month in the driest season, with a minimum of 47 mm/month though all seasons. A high bacteriological contamination appears in almost all samples. However, if disinfected and corrected for pH, all the well waters can be used for animal farming (including livestock and poultry), although only 29% could be used for human consumption.
  • Authors:
    • Özbek, N.
    • Göre, M. E.
    • Erdoğan, O.
  • Source: Bitki Koruma Bülteni
  • Volume: 52
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: The effects of barley and common vetch on Verticillium wilt intensity were examined at Nazilli Cotton Reserach experiment fields during 2006-2007. Applications used in experiment were planted as barley, barley+common vetch, common vetch (traditional production), common vetch (growing at last irrigation) and control (conventional cotton production). After a four weeks residue decomposition period, seeds of Nazilli 84-S cotton variety were planted in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The data for disease intensity were determined during the stage of 5-10%, 50-60% cotton boll opening and after harvest. Seed cotton yield and fiber quality properties were also determined. Disease intensity identified according to symptoms on leaf and cross section of stems was determined lower level in organic growing plots and it was followed by control growing plot. During experiments, green manure applications of barley and barley+common vetch provided with a larger decrease on disease intensity than control growing plot. This also shows that cotton growing increase disease intensity every year. In common vetch and control plots, average yield values were determined higher according to barley+common vetch and barley growing plots. Cotton fiber properties have not been affected by these treatments.
  • Authors:
    • Frisvold, G. B.
    • Konyar, K.
  • Source: Water Resources Research
  • Volume: 48
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: This study examined how agriculture in six southwestern states might adapt to large reductions in water supplies, using the U.S. Agricultural Resource Model (USARM), a multiregion, multicommodity agricultural sector model. In the simulation, irrigation water supplies were reduced 25% in five Southern Mountain (SM) states and by 5% in California. USARM results were compared to those from a "rationing" model, which assumes no input substitution or changes in water use intensity, relying on land fallowing as the only means of adapting to water scarcity. The rationing model also ignores changes in output prices. Results quantify the importance of economic adjustment mechanisms and changes in output prices. Under the rationing model, SM irrigators lose $65 in net income. Compared to this price exogenous, "land-fallowing only" response, allowing irrigators to change cropping patterns, practice deficit irrigation, and adjust use of other inputs reduced irrigator costs of water shortages to $22 million. Allowing irrigators to pass on price increases to purchasers reduced income losses further, to $15 million. Higher crop prices from reduced production imposed direct losses of $130 million on first purchasers of crops, which include livestock and dairy producers, and cotton gins. SM agriculture, as a whole, was resilient to the water supply shock, with production of high value specialty crops along the Lower Colorado River little affected. Particular crops were vulnerable however. Cotton production and net returns fell substantially, while reductions in water devoted to alfalfa accounted for 57% of regional water reduction.
  • Authors:
    • Rydberg, T.
    • Arvidssona, J.
    • Kellerab, T.
    • Håkanssona, I.
  • Source: Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B - Soil & Plant Science
  • Volume: 62
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Rapid, uniform crop establishment is a precondition for efficient crop production. In order to develop guidelines for seedbed preparation and sowing, extensive experiments were carried out in plastic boxes placed in the field directly on the ground for studies of the effects of seedbed properties on crop emergence. This paper deals with the effects on emergence of cereals caused by surface-layer hardening, induced by simulated rainfall (irrigation) after sowing followed by dry weather. The experimental crop was spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Soils for the experiments (Eutric Cambisols, silt loam or clay loam in most cases) were collected from the surface layer of farm fields in various parts of Sweden. On soils with high silt content, irrigation after sowing often caused slumping and subsequent hardening of the whole seedbed. On clay soils, usually only a shallow surface crust formed. The earliest irrigation had the most negative effects on crop emergence. On a silt loam soil with unstable structure, irrigation with only 5 mm reduced emergence to under 20%. Later or heavier irrigation was often less negative, as it allowed the plants to emerge before the surface layer dried and hardened. Deep sowing greatly increased the negative effects on emergence, whereas soil aggregate size usually had negligible effects. It was concluded that when sowing in practice, seedbed preparation and sowing depth should be chosen to promote the fastest possible emergence. Sowing immediately before rain should be avoided, as should shallow sowing that requires rain for the seed to germinate.
  • Authors:
    • Hosseini, S. M. B.
    • Jahansooz, M. R.
    • Heidari, H.
    • Chaichi, M. R.
  • Source: Annals of Biological Research
  • Volume: 3
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: The aim of the study was to determine the effect of alternate irrigation method and deficit irrigation on radiation use efficiency and forage quality of foxtail millet ( Setaria italica) under a double cropping system after barley ( Hordeum vulgar). Conventional furrow irrigation (M1) and alternate furrow irrigation (M2) methods and different deficit irrigation levels including 100, 85, 70 and 55% of crop water requirement (V1, V2, V3 and V4) were tested in a field experiment on the west of Tehran, Iran for 2 years (2008 and 2009). Results showed that alternate furrow irrigation with 85% of crop water requirement (M2V2) had the highest Absorption Ratio of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PARAR) and Cumulative Absorption of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PARCA) in 2008 (P
  • Authors:
    • O'Donovan, J. T.
    • Blackshaw, R. E.
    • Hao, X. Y.
    • Li. C. L.
    • Harker, K. N.
    • Clayton, G. W.
  • Source: Soil & Tillage Research
  • Volume: 118
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Environmentally Smart Nitrogen (ESN), a type of polymer-coated urea, synchronizes N release with crop demand to increase N use efficiency and potentially reduce N 2O emissions. This study investigated the effects of ESN and weed management on N 2O emissions from soil under a canola ( Brassica napus L.) no-till cropping system. The experiment was conducted from 2005 to 2008 at three sites: Lethbridge, Lacombe, and Beaverlodge, located in southern, central and northern Alberta, Canada. Treatments included a hybrid and an open-pollinated canola cultivar, with ESN and urea applied at 1 and 1.5 times (*) the recommended rate, and herbicide at 50 and 100% of registered in-crop application rates. Canola was grown in rotation with barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) and both phases of crop rotation were present each year. The N 2O fluxes from soil were measured using vented static chambers at 2-week intervals during the growing season from 2006 to 2008. Except for a few occasions with higher fluxes from urea than ESN earlier in the growing season and higher fluxes from ESN than urea later on, N 2O fluxes were similar among all treatments for all three years and three sites. The N 2O fluxes also varied over the growing season, and peak flux occurred in response to rainfall events. Similarly, cumulative N 2O emissions, expressed as either per land area or per canola seed yield, over the three growing seasons were low (0.15-2.97 kg N ha -1 yr -1 or 0.05-1.19 g N kg -1 seed) for all treatments and sites, and unaffected by weed management or crop variety ( P>0.05). The N 2O emission across the three sites from ESN averaged 20% lower ( P=0.040) than from urea although the differences between fertilizer types or application rates were not significant ( P>0.05) at each site. Elevated N 2O emissions (72% higher; P=0.028) from 1.5 * ESN (0.83 kg N ha -1 yr -1 or 0.33 g N kg -1 seed) relative to 1 * ESN (0.26 kg N ha -1 yr -1 or 0.16 g N kg -1 seed) were only observed at Beaverlodge while emissions were similar ( P>0.05) at the other two sites. The higher N 2O emissions at 1.5 * ESN at Beaverlodge were due to excess N accumulation in soil caused by unfavourable weather conditions that reduced canola N uptake and yield. Our results suggest that ESN fertilizer could reduce N 2O emissions in Alberta, Canada, but reductions will depend on rainfall events and canola N utilization.
  • Authors:
    • Zhang, L. Q.
    • Ma, Z. M.
    • Lian, C. Y.
  • Source: Journal of Triticeae Crops
  • Volume: 32
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: A field experiment was carried out from March to July, 2007 in Zhangye oasis irrigation region of Gansu province to investigate the effects of a system of bed planting and furrow irrigation on the yield and water use efficiency of beer barley. Under conditions of a bed planting system, grain yield and soil temperature were increased. Compared with conventional flat planting, soil temperature of the 5 cm soil layer in bed planting treatment was raised by 1.27°C and 1.39°C in April and May, respectively. Beer barley plants grew more vigorously in the system of bed planting and furrow irrigation and consumed more water than in conventional flat planting, but the contribution of water to grain yield was greater, and thus bed planting and furrow irrigation showed a significant yield-improving and water saving effect. With the same irrigation quota, 1000-grain-weight increased by 2.10-5.37 g, grains/spike increased by 0.7-7.2, grain yield increased by 480.5-1 983.6 kg/ha and water use efficiency (WUE) was improved by 0.65-4.52 kg/mm/ha in bed planting and furrow irrigation, compared with conventional flat planting.
  • Authors:
    • Necula, D.
    • Necula, R.
  • Source: Lucrări Ştiinţifice
  • Volume: 14
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Bucharest Ilfov Region Agriculture still occupies an important place, having large reserves of development, determined by soil quality, climate factors, technical equipment and materials and labor (or work within major research institutes in the field). However, productivity is lower productivity sector registered in EU countries due to insufficient technical equipment, small scale agricultural enterprises, which represent obstacles to effective development. Also, irrigation systems are underdeveloped.
  • Authors:
    • Gruber, S.
    • Pekrun, C.
    • Möhring, J.
    • Claupein, W.
  • Source: Soil & Tillage Research
  • Volume: 121
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: The study provides information to more reliably estimate the value of conservation tillage in a temperate climate. Tillage effects on yield and weeds were evaluated in field experiments at two sites in SW Germany between 1999 and 2010. Tillage varied at site Ihinger Hof from mouldboard plough (P), chisel plough (CP), rototiller (RTT), varying P and CP (VAR), to no tillage (NT), partially combined with stubble tillage (S). Tillage at site Meiereihof was S/P, S/CP, and NT. Crop rotations included winter wheat (WW, Triticum aestivum), triticale (TR, Triticosecale), oat (OA, Avena sativa), silage maize (SM, Zea mays) and oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) at Ihinger Hof, and winter wheat, spring barley (SB, Hordeum vulgare), silage maize, sugar beets (SBE. Beta vulgaris) and faba bean (FB, Vicia faba) at Meiereihof. At Ihinger Hof, tillage had an effect on yield (P > F = 0.0049), but no effects were found on crop emergence and crop density. Tillage effects on yield were consistent across crops though differences between crops appeared to exist. The yield of S/P, the standard tillage, was 8.5 (WW), 7.7 (TR), 4.7 (OA), 18.3 (SM) and 4.1 (OSR) t DM ha(-1) at Ihinger Hof, with yield under NT always significantly lower than S/P by 7.3% on average for all crops. At Meiereihof, yields ranged from 7.2 to 8.0 (WW), 3.3 to 4.2 (SB), 19.8 to 21.5 (SM) and 3.1 to 3.2 (FB) t DM ha(-1), and 61.3 to 67.6 FM ha(-1) for SBE. Yield was reduced by 4.5% from S/P to S/CP (P > F = 0.0516), and by about 10% from S/P to NT (P > F = 0.0009). Weed density ranged between 0.5 and 44 plants m(-2) at Ihinger Hof and was higher in treatments without stubble tillage and under non-inversion tillage, though significance differed for the different classes of weeds. NT led to weed infestation about 2-20 times higher than S/P. The interaction crop x treatment indicated that factors other than tillage influenced weed infestation. It is unlikely that weed infestation and reduced yield will be problems in temperate climates if soil disturbance through tillage is reduced. Non-inversion tillage can easily replace inversion tillage, and stubble tillage can be added to primary tillage if needed to reduce weeds. Since no specific tillage method was unequivocally superior to another one, any method well suited to specific regional and farm conditions can be adopted successfully.